With special guest, Ryan Leong (@ryanleong), Chad and Eric discuss the last two weeks of the Giants’ season and realize, like even the Giants’ brass, that this season will not end in the playoffs. At 65-67 and 8 games back with 30 games to play, the Giants probably just need to play the youngsters. Also, Buster Posey had hip surgery today and will miss the rest of the season and be out 6-8 months, hopefully ready in time for the 2019 season with more power to contribute from his legs.

We also talk about the possibility of the ballpark being adjusted to lure future power hitter free agents, Derek Holland’s racially insensitive appearance on national TV, a setback for Jeff Samardzija, the fight between the Dodgers and Giants, the excessive proclivity for the Giants’ bullpen to fail and much, much more on episode 151 of the TortureCast!

Ryan Leong been covering the Bay Area teams since 1998. Freelancing for major sports radio networks including ESPN and CBS Sports Radio, AP Radio and NBC News Radio. He has coverd all of the major events, including Super Bowls.

Ryan Leong also sent 6 interviews recorded after yesterday’s game against the Rangers. You’ll find these at the end of the podcast:

Giants manager Bruce Bochy says he roots for Derek Holland because he’s has been doing his best to bounce back from a bad 2017 season with the White Sox

Giants starting and winning pitcher Derek Holland says while he has shown improvement on the mound he wants to make it through the seventh inning

Giants center fielder Steven Duggar says he’s doing anything he can in each game to help the team win

Rangers manager Jeff Banister says Yovani Gallardo made one bad pitch which was the two run triple hit by Steven Duggar

Rangers starting and losing pitcher Yovani Gallardo says he knew the pitcher was on deck but with the count 2-2 he wanted to get Steven Duggar out and it didn’t happen

Rangers shortstop Elvis Andrus says the offense struggled while in Oakland and it had a carryover effect into their series vs. Giants

The 2018 baseball season is a week old. The San Francisco Giants are a respectable 3-3, good enough for 3rd place in the NL West. Not that standings really matter right now. It takes a month for things to really start shaking out.

Splitting 4 games in LA against the Dodgers to start the season was a great way to get things going. Yes, the offense didn’t really show up, except for Joe Panik, but getting a split against the defending NL champs in their park is a major win for a team who lost 98 games last season.

Just think about the way the Giants won the first 2 games. Identical 1-0 scores. Continue reading →

San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik has made history with two solo home runs in the first two games of the season, and pretty much saved the series as a split. Photo by Mark J. Terrill/Associated Press

If you told us that the Giants were going to start the season without MadBum, Shark, and Melancon, yet split the first four games of the year in LA, we’d take that in an instant. We’d be even more flabbergasted if you told us that the Giants would be outscored 14-2 but STILL WIN 2 GAMES. Thank you, Joe Panik! His two solo shots in two consecutive games off of Kershaw and Jansen may have single-handedly prevented the Giants from being swept.

That said, winning the first two games of the series put the Giants in the driver’s seat to take the series, but they couldn’t do that, losing 5-0 and 9-0 in the last two games.

Chad and Eric dive into the stats of the series (mainly that the Giants were 1-20 with RISP, and Longo, Cutch and Jackson combined for 2-43!), the pros, the cons, the strengths and the weaknesses. But, hey…it’s only four games.@torturecast
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We last left you before Media Day, before pitchers and catchers reported, before Tony Watson and Derek Holland were signed. And man, does everything seem positive right now!

There was a profound sense of positivity at Media Day, where I got interviews with Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford, along with group interviews with Andrew McCutchen and Bruce Bochy. But…I buy into it. This isn’t your typical response from a team that lost 98 games last year. They truly think that was an anomaly, and with the improvements to the club, these guys think the postseason is certainly possible. I think I’m buying into it.

Eric and I talk about this and the first six games of spring training, which included three bombs from Kyle Jensen?! Ok, so although he’s not making the team, we still talk about him and other solid performances over the first week down in Arizona.

Timmy signs with Texas?! At least he’s not a Dodger.

Derek Holland is a damn good Harry Caray and Schwarzenegger impressionist!

Also, check out Eric’s great writing on our site, he’s gonna manage a team website at some point, or get caught in a sex scandal when he’s made it. Either way, that’s more than I can say.

That’s the barrel the Giants were looking down two days ago when they were 1-5 before winning the last two to make the internet of Giants fans a little less dreary.

Eric and Chad open up our first regular season podcast of 2017 by discussing what went wrong (LF, bullpen), and what went right (Bum, Cueto, Moore, Panik, Crawford) over the first week of the season. Basically, the Giants have the worst left field offensive numbers by far, and their bullpen and pitching stats with a lead are cringe-worthy. Also, we hope Buster will be ok after getting drilled in the noggin.’ And that little league bases-clearing double by Moore is a sight to behold.

This is like the fourth image for this article tonight. So many possibilities. It was the missed call on Gillaspie, then the triple by Gillaspie, then the Chevron HR by Bryant, and now finally, the game-winning double by Panik. That’s 10 consecutive elimination game victories for the Giants, a record that may never be broken. (Photo: John Hefti, USA TODAY Sports)

Holy crap. It’s midnight.

Well, Giants fans. Even-Year Magic has a trick or two up its sleeve, as it turns out.

It seemed alive and well in the first half, then experienced a near-death crisis after a 2 1/2 month-long bout with some rare disease, before rising from the ashes with a sweep of LA to close out the season. It even squeezed out another magical toot when Conor Gillaspie sent a ball soaring into the New York night to win the Wild Card and send them up against the best team in baseball, the Chicago Cubs, who have experienced the opposite of “even-year bullshit.”

Most of us had high hopes, even a little swagger and confidence, much like Johnny Cueto’s shimmy in game 1 of the NLDS that would have won 9 of 10 such contests. But, that lingering cough that Even-Year Magic had came back, allowing a late inning homerun by Baez that sealed a 1-0 victory for the cubbies. Or, was Even-Year Magic (bullshit) just getting warmed up?

Then, game 2. Many fans thought that Matt Moore deserved the start after his last two performances down the stretch. However, Bruce Bochy, the god of postseason decisions, decided to go with Jeff Samardzija, because he “earned” it. That blew up in his face, as the Shark gave up 4 runs in the first 2 innings, a deficit that the Giants would never overcome.

Even-Year Magic is now in prime post-season form, ready to pounce, right?

Game 3. Elimination game. Madison Bumgarner, postseason wizard. Of course, the Giants would win this game and send us hopefuls to the wishing well and wearing all manner of good-luck-superstitious attire to somehow pull out the last two games of the series, duplicating the magic of 2012 when the Giants won three consecutive elimination games TWICE, against Cincinnati and St. Louis.

But, after 24 consecutive scoreless inning in elimination games, Bumgarner did something a bit uncharacteristic. He missed Posey’s target. Against a pitcher. With 2 outs. And 2 strikes.

Jake Arrieta, a good hitting pitcher (.262 w/2 HR), promptly launched a three-run homer to the only Cubs’ fan sitting in a section just beyond the left field fence.

Now, Even-Year Magic was on life support, or planning the best bullshit party we’ve ever seen. Not just that, but Cubs’ magic (or impending doom) was materializing. It wasn’t Kris Bryant, or Rizzo, or Fowler, or any of the usual suspects.

The Goddam pitcher. Against the best postseason pitcher in history.

Then, Even-Year Magic gets a 2nd, or 32nd breath, as the Giants rallied in the 8th, putting two runners on, forcing Joe Maddon to put in Chapman for a six-out save. After striking out Hunter Pence, wild card hero Conor Gillaspie sent a ball just over the outstretched glove of the right fielder for a 2 run triple, giving the Giants their first lead of the night. Crawford followed with an RBI single, and moved to third with one out. This is where things started to swing back in the Cubs’ direction, because, of course it would.

The Giants couldn’t plate Crawford, which proved to be a huge run, should they have gotten it. But, two weak groundouts prevented that from happening, and Romo took the ball into the 9th. We all knew what could happen; feared it; lamented it’s coming, but maybe with Even-Year Magic present, it couldn’t possibly, right?

Leadoff walk.

F that.

Then Kris Bryant did what good hitters do, hit a mistake, a hanging slider right down the middle into the night. But, that wasn’t enough. No. It had to scrape the top of the Chevron car and bounce into the stands for a 2 run game-tying homer. Looking at the angle, because it was hit so high, it appears that if the car wasn’t there, it would have been a double off of the wall. No matter, Romo retired the next three in order.

Yeah, another blown save. 30 in the regular season, including 9 losses when the Giants led going into the 9th. Surely this would prove to be the 10th.

The Giants had a shot at a walk-off. After a one-out walk by Belt, Posey, who was 3-3 on the night, laced a laser into deep right field, but Almora Jr., made an incredible game-saving catch as he sprawled out on the warning track to snare the line drive. Belt gambled, and was running on the play, so he was doubled off, which means, if that hit got down and by Almaro, Belt scores easily, and the Giants win. But no. Of course not. That drive couldn’t have been one foot to the right. One foot back. One foot short. Almaro couldn’t have been playing one foot deeper or to his right. It was as close as close could be.

Romo retired the side in order in the 10th, with a little bravado vs. Baez, which, honestly, was stupid. Dude, you gave up the tying homerun that led to the end of the season (a lot of people thought). Now you’re showboating?

Will Smith entered the 11th and retired the side in order. The Cubs were down to their last relief pitcher, although they had an assortment of starters. Panik led off the home half with a single, was sacrificed to second by Blanco, but neither Trevor Brown nor Denard Span could knock him in, sending it to the 12th.

Ty Blach, who looked so good in the regular season, and in his brief outing earlier in the NLDS, retired the Cubs in order in the 12th. After the Giants yet again, could not muster a run, Blach entered the 13th into a maelstrom that he worked hard to escape. After Black got Russell out, singles by Baez (only the second hit since the 4th inning, the other hit was the one that TIED the game in the 9th), put pressure on the rook. However, pinch-hitter David Ross grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the threat.

Then, just when you thought that old crafty lefty, Even-Year Magic had its last moment of glory, it decided to make it’s presence known once again. Brandon Crawford delivered a two-strike double just prior to Joe Panik driving a double to the deepest part of the yard, easily delivering the win to the Giants dugout in a raucous celebration amongst fans and players alike.

The Giants live for at least another day. It’s their 10th consecutive elimination game win. Guys, that is an insane number. Even if they lose tomorrow.

Yes, this magic could run out tomorrow, but boy, we’ve witnessed its glory over two memorable games and four memorable post seasons. Go get ’em, Matt Moore, you even-year-grinning assassin. God damn, my liver can’t take this. And it’s my wedding anniversary tomorrow.

The wonderfully talented Veronica Belmont joined me at AT&T park today to interview as many San Francisco Giants players as possible. No, we couldn’t interview them all, but we did make it through eight of the more important Giants: Buster Posey, Matt Cain, Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Hunter Pence, Joe Panik, Matt Duffy, and Kelby Tomlinson.

I COULD list all of these interview separately below, but it’s after 1 AM, so I’m going to just give you the link to the interviews of Podomatic. Because

Can you name this Giant? He just might be the face of the 2015 season. If you DO recognize him, you realize he’s played far too many games for the defending World Champs. Yes, Ehire Adrianza and others have had to fill in for a decimated Giants’ roster, which well, has suddenly turned 2015 into a tire fire.

What the hell?! We take one measly week off and the Giants fall off a cliff?! We promise that we didn’t take a mercenary contract out on any of the players, or spike the Gatorade in LA. From 1 ½ games back of the Dodgers when we recorded episode 95 exactly 2 weeks ago, to an 8 ½ game chasm, the Giants’ season is all but mathematically over. So, sit back and commiserate with Chad, Ben and Eric in this eulogizing podcast. Damn, this odd year curse might actually be real.

The boys are back after a vacation break to bring you some heartache, but silver linings. The Giants were swept by the Cubs, but thanks to the Pirates and Nats, sit only 2.5 games back of the Dodgers. We talk starting rotation, injuries, who we love and hate, and basically sing a huge kumbaya.

The boys are back in Arizona! Timmy reunites with his dad, Pablo is still fat, Cain is throwing wild and free, Ben and Chad review their experience and interviews at Media Day, Bochy’s heart had a scare, Sheilds rejected a larger offer from the Giants, Moncada signed with Boston, and the first radio broadcast of a spring training game is next week, March 3.

Can’t you just smell the fresh cut grass through your media player of choice?

You can follow us on Twitter @TortureCast and like us on Facebook! All of our podcasts and video and audio San Francisco Giants player interviews can be found here or YouTube.com/TortureCast.